Service Expansion of Product Firms in the Information Technology Industry: An Empirical Study.

Author List: Han, Shu; Kuruzovich, Jason; Ravichandran, T.;
Journal of Management Information Systems, 2013, Volume 29, Issue 4, Page 127-158.
The provision of services has become an increasingly important component of the economy of industrialized countries and the revenue stream for many traditional product companies. This is especially true for companies that offer information technology (IT) products. This paper examines factors that are associated with the extent to which IT product companies are able to develop service revenue, which we refer to as service expansion of IT product companies. We identify the characteristics of the product portfolio-specifically, the composition and scope of firm offerings among hardware, application software, and infrastructure software-as key to successful service expansion. We also propose that this relationship is moderated by prior performance of the product business and industry characteristics such as concentration and maturity. Data from IT product vendors spanning five years are used to test the proposed relationships. Overall, this research provides a theoretical foundation for understanding service expansion and diversification in the IT industry as well as practical guidance for IT product companies considering expansion to services.
Keywords: IT services; IT stack; IT vendors; service diversification; software product portfolio
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#89 0.274 product products quality used characteristics examines role provide goods customization provides offer core sell key potential stronger insights design initial
#211 0.181 service services delivery quality providers technology information customer business provider asp e-service role variability science propose logic companies especially customers
#271 0.121 technology investments investment information firm firms profitability value performance impact data higher evidence diversification industry payoff return findings decisions greater
#108 0.102 model research data results study using theoretical influence findings theory support implications test collected tested based empirical empirically context paper
#222 0.086 research researchers framework future information systems important present agenda identify areas provide understanding contributions using literature studies paper potential review
#22 0.065 software vendors vendor saas patch cloud release model vulnerabilities time patching overall quality delivery software-as-a-service high need security vulnerability actually
#223 0.054 insurance companies growth portfolios intensity company life portfolio industry newly vulnerable terms composition operating implemented factors asset focus disaggregation choices